HOMILY 21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE “B” August 22, 2021

 HOMILY     21^ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME   CYCLE “B”                   August 22, 2021

 

          “Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

          What is this hard saying?   Well, just four verses earlier Jesus states: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

          This is presumably the saying that the disciples found hard to accept.  Now it is important for us to understand why they found it hard to accept.  On it’s face it could be that these disciples misunderstand Jesus by taking His statement too literally.  ¿Are they repulsed by the idea of physically eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking Jesus’ blood?  Are they misunderstanding Jesus as advocating cannibalism?

          I think that solution lets us off the hook too easily.  Because you see, WE know that Jesus is not advocating cannibalism.  We know that Jesus is speaking figuratively, or better, sacramentally.  We know that Jesus gives us His flesh under the form of bread, and His blood under the form of wine.  And so we know this hard statement is not about cannibalism.

          But the disciples of Jesus’ day were not literalist dummies.  Just a few verses before this they understood perfectly well that Jesus was speaking figuratively.  When Jesus instructed them: Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life,...."    The disciples responded: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"  [John 6:27-28] They understood well that Jesus was not talking about physical food, but rather about doing the works of God.  

          So then, why did they get so upset that they turn away and abandoned Jesus?  I think it was not because they misunderstood Jesus in some literalistic repugnance to cannibalism, but rather something else.      

  They understood all too well what Jesus was talking about, and it was because they understood that they left Jesus.  Not because they misunderstood.

          For the “hard saying” they reacted to was what we would have heard in last week’s Gospel except we celebrated the Assumption of the BVM: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

          What is Jesus talking about?   If Jesus is not to be taken in a simplistically literal way, then how should we understand Him? 

          “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”  This is a statement about very deep closeness, about very intense union, about intimacy.  It is about being known deeply and completely by the Lord, and knowing Jesus closely.  For to eat something is to become one with it.  When we eat food it becomes a part of us.  In this case, in the Eucharist, as St. Augustine pointed out long ago, we become part of what we eat.  We become part of the Body of Christ.  The Life of Christ is in us.  That is intimate.

          And the thing with intimacy is that it is scary.   Anyone else here …?  It is threatening because intimacy makes us vulnerable.  You cannot be intimate in a suit of armor.  Genuine intimacy is also a lot of work.  To truly be intimate with someone you have to share your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your desires, your likes and dislikes, your very being.  You have to argue and laugh and cry and speak profoundly about who you are. 

          Genuine intimacy is difficult.  And yet that is what Jesus is talking about: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”   This is about intimate union, a deep personal closeness.  This is about love.   

 That is powerful.  And it is scary.  It demands a great deal of us, just as deep intimacy with any other human demands a great deal of us; in terms of honesty, in terms of being vulnerable, in terms of dependability and loyalty, in terms of commitment.  To eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood demands an absolute and thorough commitment from us, the same kind of commitment Jesus makes in giving us Himself.  It is to remain in Him and He in us.  That is POWERFUL.

           Commitment precludes options.  We belong to Christ now and He to us.  Commitment defines who we are: people who live in and for Christ.

          And a lot of us have a problem with such heavy-duty commitment.  So did those early disciples we hear about in today’s Gospel.  They weren’t just confused and so left Jesus over a misunderstanding.  No.  Rather they understood Him all too well, and so they are a challenge to us.  We are now presented with this invitation to radical intimacy with The Lord.   We too are tempted to pull back and walk away. 

          So Jesus’ question today is also addressed to us: “Do you also want to leave?”

The price of staying is steep.  The demand of committed discipleship is high.  But it is the only way to the fullness of life. 

          We answer with Simon Peter: “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.   We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Amen.

Homily for the Feast of the Assumption August 15, 2021

 Homily for the Feast of the Assumption     August 15, 2021

 

          Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.   I will be giving you a sermon rather than a homily.  For those who care about such liturgical trivia, a homily is a faith reflection on the readings from Scripture, whereas a sermon is a presentation on a dogma or teaching or a particular saint or some such thing.

          What is the Assumption of Mary all about, and why should we care?  Let us look at the official definition of the Assumption of Mary as promulgated by Pope Pius XII on Nov 1, 1950, which is in the life-time of a few of you here.  I was here, but "in utero" as they say.

          Pope Pius argued thus: “All these arguments and consideration of the Holy Fathers and of the theologians are based on the Holy Scriptures as their ultimate foundation, which indeed place before us as though before our eyes the loving Mother of God as most closely joined with her divine Son, and as ever sharing His lot.  Therefore, it seems almost impossible to think of her who conceived Christ, bore Him, nourished Him with her milk, held Him in her arms, and pressed Him to her breast, as separated from Him after this earthly life in the body, even though not in soul.  Since our Redeemer is the Son of Mary, surely, as the most perfect observer of divine law, He could not refuse to honor, in addition to His Eternal Father, His most beloved Mother also.  And, since He could adorn her with so great a gift as to keep her unharmed by the corruption of the tomb, it must be believed that He actually did this.”

          Let’s take this apart a bit to examine it more closely.  Notice how the Pope argues.  Since Jesus and Mary were so close on earth, and since Jesus is a good Son, and since as God He could do this for His Mother, then certainly, clearly, absolutely, Jesus must have done this for Mary. 

          Pope Pius here is not arguing from his head, but rather from his heart.  Jesus loved His Mother, and He could do this favor for her, so obviously He must have done it. This is the logic of emotions, of relationship, and of love.  It is not strictly logical, but rather truly human.  What loving, devoted, good son would not do this for his mother if he could?  And since Jesus loved His mother perfectly, and since as God He could do this, obviously He must have done it.    

          Our Catholic faith depends not only on the logic of the head, but also the realities of the heart.  Therefore, in celebrating the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we recognize and validate the force of emotion and love in the divine plan.  That is Good News, for Jesus not only loves His Mother, but all of us as well.  Jesus loves you, and Jesus loves me.  And so Jesus reacts to us not solely on an intellectual basis, not only on some scientific or mathematical calculation of merit, but also strongly on the emotional bonds between us.  And Pope Pius XII shows us that in the declaration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

          As I said at the beginning, this Doctrine was proclaimed on Nov. 1, 1950, which is rather recent in Church history.  This is a doctrine with a long history, but only recently declared.  So, the question arises as to why, at that point in history, was this doctrine proclaimed? 

          The English author, Graham Greene – who wrote the novel “The Sorrow and the Pity”, wrote an article in the British Catholic publication “The Tablet” that appeared on February 3, 1951, just a few months after the proclamation of the doctrine of the Assumption.  Graham Greene asks why, at this time, should the doctrine of the Assumption be proclaimed?  There was no heresy or effort to deny the doctrine so that it needed to be defended. 

THREE                THREE                THREE                August 15, 2021

           But Graham Greene, as an artist in touch with the mood and feeling and zeitgeist of his day, makes an interesting and valuable observation.  He wrote: “Catholics today cannot remain quite untouched by the general heresy of our time, the unimportance of the individual.  Today the human body is regarded as expendable material, something to be eliminated wholesale by the atom bomb, a kind of anonymous carrion.  After the First World War crosses marked the places where the dead lay, Allied and enemy:  Lights burned continually in the capitals of Europe over the graves of the unknown warriors.  But no crosses today mark the common graves into which the dead of London and Berlin were shoveled, and Hiroshima’s memorial is the outline of a body photographed by the heat flash on asphalt.  The definition of the Assumption proclaims again the doctrine of our Resurrection, the eternal destiny of each human body, and again it is the history of Mary with maintains the doctrine in its clarity.  The Resurrection of Christ can be regarded as the Resurrection of a God, but the Resurrection of Mary foreshadows the Resurrection of each one of us.”

          Graham Greene makes a good point.  As we celebrate today the Assumption of Mary, we are not only happy for her, but we see in her what we hope for as the final destiny of every one of us: the fullness of life in the fullness of our being, body and soul. And that is something to celebrate.  God bless!

Homily for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B Aug 1, 2021

 Homily for the 18^th Sunday of Ordinary Time  Cycle B   Aug 1, 2021

 

Do Be Do Be Do.    Is it more important, in following Christ, to do, or to be?

          In the Gospel we just heard the crowd following Jesus catches up with Jesus and they ask Him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”  It is a question about action, about doing.  And the crowd wants to do something.  Ever been there, just want to do something, anything?

          Jesus responds, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” 

          Do you think of believing as an action?  As something you do?  Do you make a conscious choice about what you believe? 

          The crowd then asks Jesus, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?  What can you do?”   

          The crowd seems focused on actions, on doing.  They want signs, something physical and tangible.  They want actions.

          Jesus is talking instead about believing, more as a way of being than of doing.   Both being and doing are important, but it seems that the doing flows from the being, rather than the other way around.  The actions are the result of faith, not faith produced as the result of actions. 

          As I am now, by even the strictest definition, a senior citizen, it seems more and more to me that “being” – being a person of faith and fidelity - has become more important over the years, and “doing”, accomplishing things, checking off achievements, has become less significant or important.  Any other seniors here experience that?

          Doing requires certain abilities and competencies.  No one can do everything, and there are many who can only do very little.  People who are infirm, or sick, or disabled, or in some other way handicapped or limited, may not be able to do a great deal. 

But, they can be people of faith, even great faith.  They, and we, all can do what Jesus tells us is the work of God, that we believe in the one he sent.  Regardless of age, or talent, or handicap, everyone can believe in the one God has sent as our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

          At the end of today’s Gospel the crowd then asks Jesus to do something, to give them bread from heaven.  And Jesus gives them the wonderful statement, “I am the bread of life;” 

          Again, a statement not about doing, but about being.  “I am the bread of life.”   Jesus is the fulfillment of all our human hungers for meaning, for purpose, for love.  “whoever come to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”    //

          Actions are important.  We have to not only talk the talk but also walk the walk.  Otherwise, our faith is dead.  But Jesus is not only a support for our actions, He is the fulfilment of our longings and desires.  Today He assures us: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” 

          AMEN.